Canadian housing starts trend lower in May

OTTAWA, ON, June 15, 2022 /CNW/ - The trend in housing starts was 254,727 units in May, down from 257,833 units in April, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.

Bob Dugan, Chief Economist, CMHC (CNW Group/Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation)

(CNW Group/Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation)

"On a trend and monthly SAAR basis, the level of housing starts activity in Canada is historically high, staying well above 200,000 units since 2020 and despite the lower trend, the monthly SAAR was higher from April to May," said Bob Dugan, CMHC's Chief Economist. "The increase in monthly SAAR housing starts in Canada's urban areas was driven by higher multi-unit starts in May. Among Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, Vancouver was the only market to post a decrease in total SAAR starts, which was driven by lower multi-unit and single-detached starts."

CMHC uses the trend measure as a complement to the monthly SAAR of housing starts to account for considerable swings in monthly estimates and obtain a clearer picture of upcoming new housing supply. In some situations, analyzing only SAAR data can be misleading, as the multi-unit segment largely drives the market and can vary significantly from one month to the next.

The standalone monthly SAAR of total housing starts for all areas in Canada in May was 287,257 units, an increase of 8% from April. The SAAR of total urban starts increased by 8% to 264,162 units in May. Multi-unit urban starts increased by 13% to 201,193 units, while single-detached urban starts decreased by 4% to 62,969 units.

Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 23,095 units.

Monthly Housing Starts and Other Construction Data  are accessible in English and French on our website and the CMHC Housing Market Information Portal. Housing starts data is available on the eleventh business day each month. We will release the June data on July 18 at 8:15 AM ET.

As Canada's authority on housing, CMHC contributes to the stability of the housing market and financial system, provides support for Canadians in housing need, and offers objective housing research and information to Canadian governments, consumers and the housing industry.

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Housing Start Data in Centres 10,000 Population and Over
		Single-Detached			All Others			Total
		May 2021	May 2022	%	May 2021	May 2022	%	May 2021	May 2022	%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.-L.		53	80	51	16	15	-6	69	95	38
P.E.I.		60	39	-35	46	39	-15	106	78	-26
N.S.		95	158	66	593	775	31	688	933	36
N.B.		118	149	26	448	571	27	566	720	27
Atlantic		326	426	31	1,103	1,400	27	1,429	1,826	28
Qc		970	660	-32	4,105	4,865	19	5,075	5,525	9
Ont.		2,484	2,109	-15	5,575	5,457	-2	8,059	7,566	-6
Man.		241	222	-8	329	277	-16	570	499	-12
Sask.		175	157	-10	280	232	-17	455	389	-15
Alta.		1,169	1,354	16	1,746	2,510	44	2,915	3,864	33
Prairies		1,585	1,733	9	2,355	3,019	28	3,940	4,752	21
B.C.		693	708	2	2,902	2,473	-15	3,595	3,181	-12
Canada (10,000+)		6,058	5,636	-7	16,040	17,214	7	22,098	22,850	3
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission		30	43	43	27	47	74	57	90	58
Barrie		66	85	29	158	38	-76	224	123	-45
Belleville		52	59	13	15	12	-20	67	71	6
Brantford		45	101	124	57	261	358	102	362	255
Calgary		460	525	14	1,121	1,244	11	1,581	1,769	12
Edmonton		508	640	26	552	1,131	105	1,060	1,771	67
Greater Sudbury		21	14	-33	18	16	-11	39	30	-23
Guelph		12	12	-	9	6	-33	21	18	-14
Halifax		13	97	##	554	717	29	567	814	44
Hamilton		29	81	179	307	79	-74	336	160	-52
Kelowna		54	68	26	41	111	171	95	179	88
Kingston		39	42	8	15	153	##	54	195	261
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo		110	102	-7	424	109	-74	534	211	-60
Lethbridge		29	24	-17	15	20	33	44	44	-
London		234	145	-38	325	375	15	559	520	-7
Moncton		43	51	19	263	298	13	306	349	14
Montréal		308	214	-31	2,129	2,730	28	2,437	2,944	21
Oshawa		188	49	-74	656	321	-51	844	370	-56
Ottawa-Gatineau		408	358	-12	1,310	957	-27	1,718	1,315	-23
Gatineau		47	40	-15	418	507	21	465	547	18
Ottawa		361	318	-12	892	450	-50	1,253	768	-39
Peterborough		31	20	-35	0	0	-	31	20	-35
Québec		138	74	-46	864	610	-29	1,002	684	-32
Regina		39	33	-15	14	79	464	53	112	111
Saguenay		42	42	-	30	22	-27	72	64	-11
St. Catharines-Niagara		90	122	36	172	141	-18	262	263	0
Saint John		25	42	68	7	115	##	32	157	391
St. John's		47	75	60	14	14	-	61	89	46
Saskatoon		128	112	-13	259	146	-44	387	258	-33
Sherbrooke		49	36	-27	147	214	46	196	250	28
Thunder Bay		14	8	-43	7	0	-100	21	8	-62
Toronto		599	432	-28	2,057	2,879	40	2,656	3,311	25
Trois-Rivières		34	36	6	54	72	33	88	108	23
Vancouver		258	275	7	2,300	1,769	-23	2,558	2,044	-20
Victoria		62	55	-11	131	275	110	193	330	71
Windsor		69	45	-35	167	94	-44	236	139	-41
Winnipeg		187	191	2	306	250	-18	493	441	-11
Total		4,461	4,308	-3	14,525	15,305	5	18,986	19,613	3
Data for  2021 and  2022  based on 2016 Census Definitions.
Source: CMHC Starts and Completion Survey, Market Absorption Survey
## not calculable / extreme value

Housing Start Data - Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR)
	Single-Detached			All Others			Total
	April 2022	May 2022	%	April 2022	May 2022	%	April 2022	May 2022	%
Provinces (10,000+)
N.L.	1,432	882	-38	85	141	66	1,517	1,023	-33
P.E.I.	377	337	-11	732	468	-36	1,109	805	-27
N.S.	2,032	2,220	9	537	9,286	##	2,569	11,506	348
N.B.	1,433	1,671	17	1,190	6,690	462	2,623	8,361	219
Qc	7,167	6,148	-14	50,262	54,334	8	57,429	60,482	5
Ont.	25,112	24,047	-4	52,282	64,701	24	77,394	88,748	15
Man.	1,770	2,564	45	4,632	3,324	-28	6,402	5,888	-8
Sask.	1,990	1,684	-15	4,416	2,784	-37	6,406	4,468	-30
Alta.	14,749	15,325	4	24,274	29,884	23	39,023	45,209	16
B.C.	9,382	8,091	-14	40,043	29,581	-26	49,425	37,672	-24
Canada (10,000+)	65,444	62,969	-4	178,453	201,193	13	243,897	264,162	8
Canada (All Areas)	81,438	78,879	-3	184,297	208,378	13	265,734	287,257	8
Metropolitan Areas
Abbotsford-Mission	666	425	-36	1,764	564	-68	2,430	989	-59
Barrie	2,855	842	-71	1,836	456	-75	4,691	1,298	-72
Belleville	342	435	27	48	144	200	390	579	48
Brantford	353	780	121	912	3,132	243	1,265	3,912	209
Calgary	6,283	5,873	-7	10,824	14,928	38	17,107	20,801	22
Edmonton	6,875	7,258	6	12,576	13,572	8	19,451	20,830	7
Greater Sudbury	194	221	14	72	192	167	266	413	55
Guelph	199	133	-33	0	72	##	199	205	3
Halifax	1,174	1,104	-6	216	8,604	##	1,390	9,708	##
Hamilton	581	728	25	5,184	948	-82	5,765	1,676	-71
Kelowna	941	787	-16	2,340	1,332	-43	3,281	2,119	-35
Kingston	134	470	251	72	1,836	##	206	2,306	##
Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo	916	1,122	22	1,560	1,308	-16	2,476	2,430	-2
Lethbridge	332	355	7	312	240	-23	644	595	-8
London	1,228	1,436	17	1,188	4,500	279	2,416	5,936	146
Moncton	385	445	16	516	3,576	##	901	4,021	346
Montréal	2,096	1,944	-7	32,102	32,632	2	34,198	34,576	1
Oshawa	1,256	424	-66	3,708	3,852	4	4,964	4,276	-14
Ottawa-Gatineau	4,704	3,470	-26	10,116	11,484	14	14,820	14,954	1
Gatineau	1,172	486	-59	1,956	6,084	211	3,128	6,570	110
Ottawa	3,532	2,984	-16	8,160	5,400	-34	11,692	8,384	-28
Peterborough	343	199	-42	0	0	-	343	199	-42
Québec	808	587	-27	10,800	7,320	-32	11,608	7,907	-32
Regina	433	472	9	768	948	23	1,201	1,420	18
Saguenay	394	351	-11	528	264	-50	922	615	-33
St. Catharines-Niagara	1,168	1,676	43	4,608	1,692	-63	5,776	3,368	-42
Saint John	374	421	13	480	1,380	188	854	1,801	111
St. John's	1,233	965	-22	84	168	100	1,317	1,133	-14
Saskatoon	1,392	1,049	-25	3,564	1,752	-51	4,956	2,801	-43
Sherbrooke	416	439	6	1,620	2,568	59	2,036	3,007	48
Thunder Bay	5	132	##	0	0	-	5	132	##
Toronto	6,181	4,975	-20	18,252	34,548	89	24,433	39,523	62
Trois-Rivières	355	281	-21	2,784	864	-69	3,139	1,145	-64
Vancouver	3,510	3,303	-6	27,372	21,228	-22	30,882	24,531	-21
Victoria	830	669	-19	3,000	3,300	10	3,830	3,969	4
Windsor	748	464	-38	1,656	1,128	-32	2,404	1,592	-34
Winnipeg	1,326	2,202	66	4,308	3,000	-30	5,634	5,202	-8
Data for 2021 and  2022  based on 2016 Census Definitions. Source: CMHC Starts and Completion Survey, Market Absorption Survey ## not calculable / extreme value

SOURCE Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Media Relations, CMHC, [email protected]